50 Fun Facts About British Music

Which compilation series, launched in 1983, took its name from a 1930s Danish bacon poster featuring a pig?

Now That's What I Call Music! took its pig mascot from a poster Richard Branson found in an antiques shop, and the series passed 100 volumes in 2018. The first volume carried 30 hits on a double LP.

Which rap-metal band's 1992 single beat X Factor winner Joe McElderry to the 2009 Christmas number one?

Rage Against the Machine's 'Killing in the Name' sold more than 500,000 copies that week, the first download-only single ever to take the Christmas top spot. An online campaign drove the protest.

Whose 16 simultaneous top-20 entries in March 2017 pushed the UK chart to cap each artist at three songs?

Ed Sheeran's album '÷' put all 16 of its tracks in the top 20 at once, and from July 2017 the Official Charts Company limited lead artists to three entries in the top 100.

Which Welsh singer is the only artist to have performed more than one official James Bond theme?

Shirley Bassey sang 'Goldfinger' in 1964, then returned for 'Diamonds Are Forever' and 'Moonraker', a Bond hat-trick no other artist has matched.

Which pink, yellow-spotted Noel's House Party character had a UK Christmas number one in 1993?

Mr Blobby spent three weeks at number one and is regularly voted the worst single ever made.

Whose 'Can We Fix It?' ended Westlife's run of seven straight number ones at Christmas 2000?

Bob the Builder's single shifted over a million copies to become the best-selling song of 2000, ahead of every grown-up act that year.

Which YouTube couple's sausage-roll charity covers were Christmas number one five years running from 2018?

LadBaby's five Christmas number ones in a row are the most by any act, running from 'We Built This City' in 2018 to 'Food Aid' in 2022, all raising money for food banks.

Whose 'Spectre' theme, 'Writing's on the Wall', was the first James Bond song to reach UK number one?

Sam Smith's ballad hit number one in October 2015 and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the second Bond theme in a row to do so.

Which Clydebank band spent 15 weeks at number one in 1994 with a cover from Four Weddings and a Funeral?

Wet Wet Wet's 'Love Is All Around' was a cover of a 1967 Troggs single, and Troggs writer Reg Presley spent some of the royalties on crop circle research.

Which Britpop frontman invaded the stage during Michael Jackson's 'Earth Song' at the 1996 Brit Awards?

Jarvis Cocker was questioned by police over the spur-of-the-moment protest and released without charge, while Jackson performed surrounded by children.

Which deputy prime minister was drenched with iced water by Chumbawamba's singer at the 1998 Brit Awards?

John Prescott was soaked by Danbert Nobacon in protest at Labour's refusal to back striking Liverpool dockers, a cause the band had already name-checked from the stage that night.

Which Page 3 model co-hosted the notoriously shambolic 1989 Brit Awards alongside drummer Mick Fleetwood?

Samantha Fox later blamed wrong cue cards, a broken autocue and screaming Bros fans, and claimed Fleetwood was 'out of it' on the night.

Which figure on the Brit Awards trophy has been restyled by Vivienne Westwood and Zaha Hadid?

Britannia, the female personification of Britain, is the figure on the statuette, and since 2011 a different British artist or designer has restyled her most years.

Which Wolverhampton glam band beat Wizzard to the 1973 Christmas number one?

Slade's 'Merry Xmas Everybody' is credited with starting the annual race for the Christmas number one, and since downloads began counting in 2007 it has re-entered the chart every December.

Which Sheffield band's 2006 debut remains the fastest-selling debut album by a band in UK chart history?

Arctic Monkeys' 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' shifted 363,735 copies in its first week, more than the rest of the top 20 combined.

Which boy band's 1996 split announcement led the Samaritans to set up hotlines for distraught fans?

Take That's split came a year after Robbie Williams had walked out, and teenage fans were reported lining streets in tears when the news broke.

Which group assembled on ITV's Popstars: The Rivals went on to 20 consecutive top-ten singles?

Girls Aloud were formed on 30 November 2002, and Guinness World Records listed them for the most consecutive top-ten entries by a female group in the UK.

Which group's skirt-ripping routine won Eurovision 1981 for the UK with 'Making Your Mind Up'?

Bucks Fizz went on to three UK number ones, and Cheryl Baker, Jay Aston and the group's creator Nichola Martin have all since laid claim to the skirt-rip idea.

Which Cambridge band won Eurovision 1997 for the UK with 'Love Shine a Light'?

Katrina and the Waves had been famous for 1985's 'Walking on Sunshine' for over a decade before the Eurovision win on 3 May 1997, the UK's fifth victory in the contest.

Whose 'Space Man' took the UK to second place at Eurovision 2022 with 466 points?

Sam Ryder's 466 points were the most a UK entrant had ever scored, losing only to Ukraine in the year of the Russian invasion, and 'Space Man' reached number two at home.

Which Liverpool duo gave the UK its first Eurovision nul points, with 'Cry Baby' in 2003?

Jemini's performance was criticised as badly off-key, finishing last of the field, and the duo had started out under the name Tricity.

Which singer lost Eurovision 1968 by a single point to Spain's 'La, la, la' with 'Congratulations'?

Cliff Richard's 'Congratulations' still went to number one across Europe, and it was Germany's penultimate vote, six points to Spain, that swung the contest.

Which Specials single spent three weeks at number one in 1981 as riots broke out across English cities?

Ghost Town was written about urban decay and unemployment, and its arrival at number one during the 1981 riots made it an 'instant musical editorial' on the summer's events.

Which Camden Town ska band spent a record 214 weeks on the singles chart between 1980 and 1986?

Madness jointly hold the 1980s record for the most weeks spent on the UK singles chart by a group, having formed in north-west London in 1976.

Who wrote and sang 'Are "Friends" Electric?', the 1979 synth-pop single that spent four weeks at number one?

Gary Numan's 'Are "Friends" Electric?' was taken from the album Replicas, and its synth line was later reworked into the Sugababes' 2002 number one 'Freak like Me'.

Which label, co-founded by TV presenter Tony Wilson in 1978, released Joy Division and ran the Haçienda?

Factory Records gave even the Haçienda a catalogue number, FAC 51, and ran the club in partnership with New Order.

Which band's 27,000-strong 1990 show at Spike Island in Widnes is remembered as the peak of Madchester?

The Stone Roses played Spike Island on 27 May 1990 with DJs Paul Oakenfold and Dave Haslam and a Zimbabwean drum orchestra in support.

Which MC's self-produced debut 'Boy in da Corner' won the 2003 Mercury Prize a year after he signed to XL?

Dizzee Rascal's album went on to be certified platinum, and he was nominated again in 2007 before losing to Klaxons.

Which Tottenham MC's 'Konnichiwa' won the 2016 Mercury Prize?

Skepta started out as a DJ in the Tottenham-based Meridian Crew, and 'Konnichiwa' peaked at number two, then the highest position a grime album had reached.

Which Battersea garage collective topped the chart in August 2001 with '21 Seconds'?

So Solid Crew also hit the charts with 'Oh No (Sentimental Things)', and their success made UK garage a chart force in the early 2000s.

Which Birmingham reggae band named themselves after the form used to claim unemployment benefit?

UB40 stood for Unemployment Benefit, Form 40, and the band's 'Red Red Wine' topped the UK chart in 1983 and the US chart five years later.

Which Primal Scream album won the inaugural Mercury Prize in 1992 and has sold over three million copies?

Screamadelica took the Glasgow band, formed in 1982 by Bobby Gillespie, from indie jangle into acid house.

Which Al Martino ballad topped the very first UK singles chart, published by the NME in November 1952?

Here in My Heart was Martino's only UK chart-topper, and it had already topped the sheet-music sales chart before a record chart existed.

Which band's founders Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland met in their first week at University College London?

Coldplay signed to Parlophone in 1999, and their debut 'Parachutes' with the breakthrough single 'Yellow' won both a Brit Award and a Grammy.

Which Birmingham band's guitarist Tony Iommi lost two fingertips on his last day at a sheet-metal factory?

Black Sabbath's crushing sound owes something to the accident: Iommi made himself plastic fingertips and tuned his guitar down to ease the pain.

Which BBC2 rock show, long fronted by Bob Harris, was commissioned by David Attenborough and ran until 1988?

The Old Grey Whistle Test took its name from the music publishers' doormen, the 'old greys': any tune they could whistle after a hearing or two had passed the test.

Which Squeeze keyboardist has hosted BBC2's 'Later...' since 1992 and the Hootenanny since 1994?

Jools Holland played keyboards on Squeeze's first three albums, including 'Cool for Cats', before leaving in 1980 for a solo career.

Which label, founded in 1976 at the start of the punk boom, signed Ian Dury and Elvis Costello early in 1977?

Stiff Records' first package tour in autumn 1977 saw Dury and Costello emerge as its strongest acts, with most nights ending in a mass singalong of Dury's 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'.

Which singer's 'Back to Black' made her the first British woman to win five Grammys in a single night?

Amy Winehouse took Record of the Year and Song of the Year for 'Rehab' at the 2008 ceremony, tying the then-record for a female artist in one night.

Which band's 'Spaceman' became the sixth number one launched by a Levi's jeans advert, in 1996?

Babylon Zoo's single entered the chart at number one in January 1996 thanks to an Arthur Baker remix used in the 'Planet' advert, though critics likened the full-length track to a dirge.

Which pirate station, founded by Ronan O'Rahilly in 1964, broadcast from a Danish ferry off Felixstowe?

Radio Caroline was set up to break the record companies' grip on pop broadcasting and the BBC's radio monopoly, and it used five different ships before the last went off air in 1990.

Which Joe Dolce novelty song kept Ultravox's 'Vienna' stuck at number two for three weeks in 1981?

Shaddap You Face held the top spot for three weeks from 21 February 1981, and Ultravox's brooding synth ballad never got past it.

Which 1998 World Cup song by Fat Les was dreamed up at the Groucho Club by Keith Allen and Alex James?

Vindaloo's video sent up the Verve's 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' clip, with artist Damien Hirst in the crowd alongside Matt Lucas and David Walliams.

Which Northern Irish band's 'Teenage Kicks' opening words are carved on DJ John Peel's gravestone?

The Undertones' debut single was Peel's favourite record, and in 2001 he said the only words he wanted on his gravestone besides his name were its opening line.

Which Welsh band's lyricist Richey Edwards vanished in 1995, his car later found by the Severn Bridge?

Manic Street Preachers carried on as a trio, and Edwards was declared legally dead in 2008, 13 years after he left his passport behind in his Cardiff flat.

Which identical twins from Leith, Craig and Charlie Reid, recorded 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)'?

The Proclaimers' twins were born in Leith on 5 March 1962 and grew up between Edinburgh, Cornwall and Auchtermuchty.

Which band's self-titled 1993 debut won the Mercury Prize and is often called the first Britpop record?

Suede's debut entered the album chart at number one and was the fastest-selling debut album in Britain for almost a decade.

Which Somerset 'scrumpy and western' band topped the chart in June 1976 with 'The Combine Harvester'?

The Wurzels' novelty hit had already been an Irish number one for Brendan Grace in 1975, and the band was founded by Adge Cutler in 1966.

Which Second World War singer became the oldest living artist to top the UK album chart, aged 92 in 2009?

Vera Lynn's compilation 'We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn' went to number one in September 2009, 70 years after the war that made her famous began.

Which comedian wrote and sang 'Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)', the Christmas number one of 1971?

Benny Hill first performed the song on his own TV show in 1970, and it spent four weeks at number one over Christmas 1971.